Hey guys, we’re finally back with a wrap-up post! Sorry we’ve been missing in action and too lazy to do these weekly, freedom from uni has been too sweet and we’ve been busy enjoying it. And on that note we’re thinking of changing these wrap-ups to monthly wrap-ups instead. Any objections? No? Okay good hehe. 😛

What have we been up to in November?

Joy

November has been a great month. I’ve been catching up with friends that I’ve neglected during the uni semesters (sorry, I still love you guys!) and basically relaxing and having fun. You don’t really realise how great freedom feels until you get to wake up at a time of your own choosing each day. I haven’t been sleep deprived in weeks! We had a friend’s 21st a few weeks back and obviously took photos. Clearly I’m the more attractive one, hands down. >:)

I also quit my part-time job as a waitress and snagged a real-life adult job! I have yet to sign the contract (not until next week), but I’m excited to start on this new journey of life. It’s so daunting but exciting at the same time.

In terms of reading, I’ve been pretty good! I completed my Goodreads Challenge a few weeks back and I’m 11 books ahead at this moment. This never happens so I’m quite proud of myself. I’ve also taken some time off reading to sit in front of the idiot box and marathon The Walking Dead. I’m obsessed with this show guys, you have no idea how much I love it! I’ve been eyeing the graphic novels on The Book Depository…maybe an early Christmas present for myself? 😛

Alana

I think we can clearly see from the photo above that Joy and I really know how to pull attractive faces. I too have been catching up with friends and spending my weekends at 21st birthday parties. Legit, I have one every weekend till February. But then it’s my turn 😉

Like Joy, I too have snagged my very own real-life adult job which I’m set to start on Tuesday! *cue anxiety panic attacks* I’m really excited for that though and I hope I love it! (even if it means no more sleep in’s) I’ve actually taken a bit of a break from reading this month. After I handed in my final assignment I legit sat on the couch for a week or two just doing nothing… oh and sleeping. (I love my sleep) But I’m back into the reading and have a list of books I just NEED to buy.. including the new Veronica Mars book. I will have it in my possession!!

November Book Haul

Joy

Bought/For Review

Bought

Harry Potter Box Set – I’ve been eyeing this new set with the gorgeous covers for a while, and couldn’t help myself. It was an early graduation gift from myself to myself. Heh. Plus it was half price thanks to Bloomsbury Australia’s birthday sale…as if I could resist!

For review

Love Bomb by Jenny McLachlan – I really enjoyed the first book! Thank you to Bloomsbury for providing the second for review.

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin – Thank you to Hachette! I’m SO SO SO excited to read this!

Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven – Thank you to Pan Macmillan. Keen for some romance during the summer.

Alana

Gifted

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas – I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the first review copies.. perks of interning at Bloomsbury (Joy: I’M STILL WAITING EAGERLY FOR MINE!! Sah jealous)

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray – Thanks to Pavan @ KeepItFictional for the great giveaway! Can’t wait to get stuck into this pretty.

Bookish News

This month, I helped organise a Secret Santa gift exchange for the Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers Group on Goodreads. We have a blog hop running to get to know the participants better, and to get to know our fellow Aussie bloggers. Feel free to join in on the blog hop even if you didn’t participant in the gift exchange. We’d love to hear whether you’ve been a good or naughty blogger this year! Here’s the link to my Secret Santa Blog Hop post, you can link up your own post at the bottom.

Don’t miss out on the December newsletter from the Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers group for a round up for bookish news, new releases, events and blogger spotlights. View the December issue here, and make sure you subscribe to have it delivered straight to your inbox at the beginning of each month!

What did we get up to?

Joy

It’s been a crazy fortnight guys! This week we handed in our last assessment ever and have officially completed our undergraduate degree! How super crazy is that?! I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that after 17 years of schooling, I have finally said goodbye to it for good. It’s a little daunting to be faced with the real world but it’s definitely an exciting experience. I have taken another week off and then I have a scary job interview, which will hopefully lead to a full time job. Fingers crossed! 😀

Because of all my free time these days, I’ve been spending a majority of it catching up on review books. It’s so nice being able to come home and read without worrying about anything else, I’ve definitely missed this feeling!

Alana

Joy’s spot on. It’s been a crazy and stressful couple of weeks. But it’s over and I’m incredibly relieved and really nervous for what’s to come… Hopefully the job of my dreams! (One day! :P) I’m just trying to wrap my head around the fact that there’s no more assignments or exams, that’s a lot to process right now!

I’ve been spending the last few days catching up on sleep every chance I can get (and dancing crazily to Taylor Swift’s new album) but i’m going to get stuck into all the reviews and books i’ve got to catch up on! I can’t wait to finally read a book without feeling guilty about not doing uni work… the freedom!!

What did we get up to?

Joy

It’s been three weeks (wowowow) since our last wrap-up post, and that’s because we’ve been busy busy busy. You have no idea, seriously. I’ve had a few assignments due over the last few weeks, and I started an internship at a pretty high ranking public relations firm. My week consists of 3 days of interning, two days of uni and usually work on Saturday. That means my awesome reading streak has been ruined because all I want to do when I get home is collapse on my bed and sleep. Or watch tv.

I did manage to have a fun night out on Friday, where Alana and I attended our Media Society Ball! It was the perfect excuse to dress up in long elegant dresses and pretend I was fancy for one night. I’d much prefer my pyjamas but every once in a while I like to get allllll fancy shmancy.

P.S. As I’m writing this, a HUGE (AND I MEAN GINORMOUS) moth is flying around my room. I hurt my arm trying to shoo it outside, but now it’s settled on top of my door frame. If you don’t hear from me next week, I’m probably dead. *touch wood*

Alana

Awww aren’t we the cutest? 😛 As you can see we had tons of fun at the Media Ball… about the only fun I’m going to be having in the next few weeks 😛

Just like Joy I’m dying trying to juggle assignments and work. I pretty much have had a full on seven day week for the last couple of weeks and it will be like that until the first week of november. Uni is no fun at the moment 🙁 But then I’m done! Woooohoooo! An sleeping, reading and watching TV will be my priorities.

Unfortunately my busy-ness means I have the largest backlog of reviews known to man. Seriously. There are so many I need to do… but they’re coming I swear!! (Joy will come over and strangle them out of me if I don’t get them done soon. Sorry Joy!!)

Hopefully the moth left Joy alone and she isn’t dead… because that would be bad 😛

#BTCYA Event

On Thursday we attended the Between The Covers YA event hosted by HarperCollins Australia. They seriously have THE BEST office ever, with a killer view overlooking Hyde Park. I seriously want to work there, someone hire me, please!

This time, the event was not exclusively for bloggers, so we got to meet some very lovely readers as well. The event was chaired by the lovely Amanda and Tim, who had wonderful (work) chemistry and was hilarious to boot. We were also treated to a panel of five wonderful Harper authors: Tara Eglington (she showed me her engagement ring guyssss!), Gabrielle Tozer, Frances Watts, Sarah Ayoub and Jessica Shirvington!

The event was held in conjunction with the early release of Jessica’s book, Corruption, the sequel to her sparkly gold Disruption. We were the first people in the world to get a copy of Corruption, which was super exciting! 😀

Many regular faces were there at the event as well, and we managed to take a photo with the lovely Jess from My Reading Dress. It was a super fun night, and we can’t wait for next year!

The John Green Collectors’ Editions & Divergent DVD– Won these bad boys at #BTCYA from the raffle. I believe it was good karma because I had just tweeted about it prior to winning. Thank you HarperCollins!

The Queen of the Tearling & Catching Fire DVD – Apparently I won these while I was in Europe, but I totally forgot! Thank you muchly to Viv @ This Book Saved My Life for being so lovely and giving it to me in person <3

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb – This gigantic beast of a book was won thanks to the wonderful Shaheen @ Speculating on SpecFic

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For Review

Whisper the Dead by Alyxandra Harvey

Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

Thank you as always to the wonderful Bloomsbury Australia for these unsolicited review copies!

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray – UM OMG! Look at the gorgeous cover, seriously. Thank you to the wonderful HarperCollins for this copy for review. I can’t wait to dive into it.

What did we get up to these two weeks?

Joy

It’s been a relaxing fortnight because uni has treated me well and I had nothing due! I watched Wicked: The Musical on Friday night and had the most brilliant time ever. If you’ve seen it, gush about it with me!! If you haven’t, then you need to go. It’s amazing and worth the money and yes I cried at the end. It was embarrassing. 😛 But it’s a wonderful retelling of The Wizard of Oz, and it’s definitely propelled the book up my TBR pile.

I also got hooked onto Minecraft thanks to my boyfriend. I’m still pretty much a noob and have no idea what I’m doing but I’m starting to get the hang of it. I’m building my own farm and I’m very proud, heh.

Alana

My fortnight has unfortunately been the opposite of relaxing! I’ve had quite a few assignments and I’ve been working every spare minute I’ve had that didn’t involve uni so I’m afraid I’ve had a rather boring time. Well I went and saw The Maze Runner as you guys know… but other than that i’ve just been sleeping when I haven’t been at work, uni or doing assignments.

Talk about snoozeville! (I’m so punny)

Although in an embarrassing moment this week, I was playing the drums on my old Band Hero on one of my study breaks and I was jamming way too hard that the sticks gave me really harsh blisters on my hand… clearly I was out of practice and won’t be trying that again any time soon 😛 And that’s about as interesting as I got these past two weeks 😛

Book Haul

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (I really disliked the AUS covers so I bought the US cover instead!)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Alana

WON

Dishonour by Gabrielle Lord- Thank you to Hatchette Australia

Lost & Found by Brooke Davis – Thank you to NSW Writers Centre

BOUGHT

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Books read & reviewed

Joy

I had a really good two weeks with reading and reviewing thanks to my short break without any assignments requiring dire attention. I managed to finish six books. I know, that is amazing because I’m not a fast reader by any means at all. Plus I tend to get distracted by tv shows and movies that are begging for my attention.

I’ve actually had a killer fortnight with quite a number of assignments and working at my job every spare minute I wasn’t at uni so unlike Joy I didn’t get too much reading done. I’m hoping to pick that up this week and next week though! I need to get back into it!

My week was definitely not as exciting as Alana’s (*sobs*), but it was similarly filled with assignments, work and books. I watched The Giver last night and absolutely LOVED it. I’m glad I went into the movie without knowing anything and having not read the books because I managed to just enjoy the movie rather than make comparisons. Totally guilty of always comparing book-to-movie adaptations. *hangs head in shame*

Oh well! I hope your week was more exciting than mine 😛

Alana

My week was absolutely jam-packed with assignments, birthdays and demolishing books. I read the Maze Runner series and the Lunar Chronicles series on the train, (I have to wait till 2015 for the next one?! NOT. COOL.) when I reaaaally should have been doing my assignments. But they were handed in on time so it worked out okay! And… oh yeah. I MET AND HUGGED ORLANDO BLOOM. Not going to lie… I may never wash my arm again. This years first Oz Comic Con Sydney was SO much fun! My friend and I spent waaaay too much money on books, t-shirts and the cutest Disney and Supernatural Pop Vinyls! Plus I got to see the cast of Veronica Mars.

Hello bookish people! It’s been awhile since I’ve done a wrap-up post so not surprisingly, my TBR pile has definitely accumulated over the past two-ish months. Wow, has it really been that long?! With Europe and uni resuming, I’ve been busy, busy, busy – but I’ll try and keep this post short and sweet.

My awesome friend Alana will be joining in on the wrap-up as well, and I didn’t even have to bribe her. Hurray!

What’s been happening?

Joy

Oh man, where do I even start? It’s been a busy month for me because uni has resumed. I handed in a few assessments on Friday and have been juggling the workload with my job where I worked 12 hours straight on Friday. I have taken the weekend to basically recuperate because my legs were like jelly by the end of that shift.

Nothing really exciting has happened in the month I’ve been back home. I’m pretty boring like that because I’m getting old. I managed to catch up with a few friends over dinner yesterday so that was nice. 😀

Oooh, so tomorrow Hachette is holding an exclusive YA bloggers night, where Laini Taylor will be in attendance! Alana and I will both be attending, and I know a few other bloggers will be there as well so yay for blogger meetups. You can expect a wrap-up and lots of photos from me as per usual.

Alana

Well I’ve sure had fun this month! Joining Joy with reviewing has been a ton of fun and I can’t wait to share more reviews with you guys. Like Joy I’ve been a busy bee with juggling uni and its evil assessments, work and internships…but it’s nice to catch a break every now and then and sit down to read a good book!

It’s 21st season at the moment so I’ve been partying it up (so unlike me, i’m generally a home-bound hermit when I’m not at work or uni) so that’s been great catching up with old school friends and meeting new people. Is it bad if I say I just want to go back to being at home on a saturday night on the couch? No? Good 😛

Book Haul

Joy

Gifted/Won

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher – Thank you to Hachette & The Reading Room

Misbehaving by Abbi Glines – Thank you to Simon and Schuster & The Reading Room

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare – Thank you so much Random House Australia

Alana

I’ve actually got my hands on quite a few books to read. A very good friend of mine left for a four month trip to Canada and was kind enough to let me raid her bookshelves before she left.. and raid I did! Looking forward to getting stuck into some of these ASAP!

Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Crossed by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

The Immortal Crowns by Richelle Mead

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Bloggish News

Joy

I actually managed to read THREE books this week. Seriously guys, this NEVER happens so it’s a big deal for me. Thanks to my need to procrastinate all my assessments, I made some time to get through some books.

I’ve gone through quite a few books these last few weeks too! Mostly because like Joy I was procrastinating from assessments.. BUT because of those evil assessments I’ve only had a chance to finish one review… but they’re coming I promise!!

Annnnd, that’s our wrap-up for the last week of August. We hope you all read some amazing books this month and continue to read more in September! Link us to your wrap-ups/stacking the shelves/etc for this week and we’ll be sure to check it out. 🙂

Hi guys! How have you all been? I’ve finished uni for the semester and am getting ready to leave for Europe next week! Planning to get A LOT of reading done on the plane and bus, so hopefully I’ll have a lot of reviews ready to go once I get home. I’m rushing through a few books this week so I meet my June deadlines – fingers crossed I can speed through them.

Bookish News

Thoughts By J turned 1! *throws confetti* I’m so thankful for all of you guys, seriously. <3 Visit THIS POST to be in a chance to win 1 of 6 books! I also got a new layout yiewww

I attended PTA Live Sydney and had so much fun! It’s so awesome to gather all the YA book lovers in one place and just talk books. I managed to meet with a bunch of bloggers that I’ve met previously, and some new ones on the night as well. Thank you so much to Felicity & Penguin Teen Australia for hosting an awesome night!

Hi guys, thank you to everyone who gave me some tips on finding the time to read on this post! <3 I’m honestly amazed by how so many of you squeeze in reading time. While you’re eating?! Wow! I’d probably just splatter food all over my book.

So I still haven’t managed to finish a book at all this week – eep! I did however get a lot of work done AND managed to attend the Penguin Teen Australia TFIOS Movie Marathon.

For all you international peeps, PTA is basically hitting up most of the Aussie major cities to watch TFIOS over the long weekend with ALL THE NERDFIGHTERS.

Unfortunately, the ending was not any different the second time around. *sobs uncontrollably* Happier news though, I met up with Jaz from Fiction in Fiction in Fiction, and she gifted me with Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead! Eeeep! Thank you so much Jaz, I seriously adore this new cover. <3 <3

PTA also gave us a cute tote bag with more tickets to rewatch TFIOS (which I’ll probably give to my boyfriend’s sister). Due to some printing problems though, the TFIOS posters didn’t arrive on time.

But they’ll be mailed out soon!

What happened this week

Nothing. Nada. Wellllll…I put myself on another Book Buying/Requesting Ban. I’m actually struggling to keep up with the reading load – so much so that I’m thinking of getting a guest poster/co-blogger. Still tossing around on this though, I’m not ready to give up on my baby yet!! 😛

Hey guys, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week filled with amazing books! I’m approaching the final week of uni for semester 1, so I’ve basically been spending my time doing assignments and going to work. It hasn’t been a good week for reading at all, unfortunately.

I just came across this tweet from the lovely Jeann on Twitter and had a good laugh over Bec and Nara’s reply:

I agree, let’s sacrifice Nara! 😛 She was the first person I thought of as well because she has this super fast reading speed that I just can’t comprehend. SORCERY! WITCHCRAFT! Haha kidding, I love you! 😛 Make sure you check out Nara & Chantelle’s blog Looking for the Panacea for regular book updates because they’re pretty darn good with keeping up with their posts!

Exciting News

So this week, I was offered a moderator role on the wonderful Aussie YA Bloggers group by Jeann! I will be in charge of organising bloggish events like the Easter Bunny Exchange I hosted over Easter. Yay! I’m so excited to be involved, and I’m racking my brain for fun things to do that all bloggers can get involved in. 😀

What I read this week

Currently Reading

So far, I’m only like 70 pages in so I can’t really say whether the book is amazing or not. But nothing much has happened at all so it’s a little slow. I hope to finish it by Wednesday. Apparently it has a wtf ending?

Book Haul

Won

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Thank you once again to Bookworld Australia. I won the $100 voucher for my #TFiOS prescreening review, and these were the last two books I spent the voucher on.

For Review

City of Heavenly Fire (#6) by Cassandra Clare

Thank you to Walker Books Australia for this review copy. I can’t WAIT to finally finish this series.

The Last Thirteen (7) by James Phelan

Breaking Butterflies by M. Anjelais

Thank you to Scholastic Australia for these review copies.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia, I grabbed a copy of this off Netgalley. In Sarah’s original draft posted on FictionPress, Celaena’s journey and her adventures in Wendlyn were my favourite parts of the entire series. I’m so excited to relive the story and see what’s changed from what I remember reading!

JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER. So beautiful. Thank you to Disney-Hyperion on Netgalley for this eARC

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Annnnd, that’s it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week and read lots of books! xx

Hey guys! Oh man, it’s been a busy, busy week for me. I apologise for being M.I.A for a good part of this week, and for getting so behind on comment replies + visiting your blogs! I promise I’ll be getting around to it straight after this post is up! This week has been rather hectic because of final assessments and work. For you Sydney-siders, it’s Vivid time again! As much as I enjoy Vivid, it’s always such a pest as well because it gets extra busy at work, meaning everyone gets rostered on at night and it totally screws up my schedule/weekends. I suck it up as much as I can and just try and get things done. I’m heading to Europe in July, and need as much money as I can get – damn you awful exchange rates!

National Book Bloggers Forum 2014

On Tuesday 20th May, I was lucky enough to be able to attend Penguin Random House Australia’s first ever National Book Bloggers Forum (#NBBF14)!

Thank you to the wonderful Kirsty for organising it, it was such a brilliant day and I’m so thankful to have met so many fellow book bloggers face-to-face! I will DEFINITELY be heading back next year, I hope to meet a lot more Aussie bloggers at #NBBF15! 😉

I’m so sad I missed out on the group photo! But there will be plenty more chances for one at PTA Live! Woohoo!

There are so many wonderful books coming out from Penguin Random House, but as a YA centred blog, I’ll mention only the YA ones. I will have special mentions of the adult fictions that I’m also excited to read!

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Disclaimer

The books and items reviewed on Thoughts By J are purchased by us unless explicitly specified. We occasionally receive books for review from Australian publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts By J does not receive monetary compensation for our reviews or posts.